Chapter 10, second Samuel chapter 10.
Amazing to me that the god of Heaven would be willing to
stoop. As low as Humanity, the fact
that Jesus Christ was willing as the Son of God, to become the
son of man and to come down and not just that he was willing to
come down to this earth and live with men.
Not that he was just willing to be born of a as a baby and all
of those other things but the fact that he was willing to die
on the cross for my sins. But an amazing thing.
The fact that he knew that almost 2,000 years later I was
going to come along and I was Going to be a sinner and I was
going to need somebody that can save me and the fact that Jesus
Christ, knowing that I was going to sin against him.
Still died on the cross for me as an amazing thing.
And then on top of that, the fact that God as God of the
universe and boy, I don't know if you've ever seen some of
these things on Facebook or other places where, you know,
they start to kind of try to describe how massive the
universe is and and honestly they still have no idea how big
the universe is. And the fact that there are just
galaxies upon in galaxies upon galaxies and just unlimited
number of stars in and planets and all kinds of stuff out
there. And the think the fact that as
far as we know, this is the only place in the entire universe
where there is life. And God loved us so much that he
was willing to send his only son to this tiny little dot of a
place in the middle of nothing. And save us.
And then on top of that, the fact that God allows us to come
before him not, but not to go through some priests or some man
or have to go through Mary or any of these other people, but
that we can go directly to God ourselves and meet with him
every single day. And the fact that God as the
creator of the universe and as the ruler of the universe is
willing to stop whatever he's doing and come and meet with me.
That's an amazing thing. That's an amazing.
Thing that God would do that for us.
Second, Samuel chapter ten doesn't really have anything to
do with our passage this morning, but I just thought,
it's an amazing thought that God would do that for us.
But here in second, Samuel chapter 10 David and the people
of Israel really are facing, this really, it's an undesired
conflict. You know, there was a lot of
fighting that that happened. Israel had to go out to battle a
lot, but David was not looking for a fight, David was not
looking to defend anything. He wasn't looking to try to take
anything, but this fight came to him and kind of in a weird.
And way the king of the children of Ammon died and David had sent
Messengers to the King's son to convey his condolences and the
princes of am and got together and concocted this story in
their mind saying, you know what, David's not doing this.
Because he's trying to show a sympathy.
David's, not doing this because he's trying to be our friend.
He's doing it because he's sending these guys to be spies
in our land and he's going to use that information that they
bring back to then come and attack us.
And so those princes of the The children of Ammon captured the
Israelites who were coming to give their condolences and they
humiliated him in the worst way possible.
They cut their beards in half, they cut their clothes directly
in half and then sent them back home.
And of course, I mean the ultimate humiliation and David
heard about this. And so David goes out and meets
them where they are so that they didn't have to show themselves
in front of the people. And he said, you guys, you just
stay here until your beards grow back and tell you everything is
till everything looks normal and then you can come back to Israel
but But obviously, that set some things in motion and that brings
us to verse number 6. I love the way the Bible says
this and when the children of a.m. and saw that they stank
before, David the children of Ammon sent and hired the syrians
of Beth Rahab and the syrians of Zaba, 20,000 footman, and of
King Maca, 1,000 men in ish table 12,000 men.
And when David heard of it, he sent joab and all the host of
The Mighty Men, and the children of Ammon came out and put the
battle in Array at the entering, in of the gate in the syrians of
Zaba. Andrei haben ish table in
Mexico, were by themselves in the field when Joy of saw that
the Want of the battle was against him before and behind.
He chose of all the men of all the choice, men of Israel, and
put them in Array against the syrians and the rest of the
people. He delivered into the hands of
abishai, his brother that he might put them in Array against
the children of Ammon. So the children of Ammon gets
scared and they say now we've really done it.
Now we're in hot water. Now we better prepare because
David's not going to take too kindly to this.
And so they went out and they Enlisted the help of the syrians
and they said, hey this battle is coming.
I know you're an enemy of Israel to this is a Eight opportunity,
we need your help and they hired thousands and thousands of these
foot soldiers to go out there and help them with that battle.
And, of course, now that required that they were gonna
have to face the enemy on two fronts, there was the front of
the ammonites, and there was a front of the syrians and now
they're in front of them and they're behind them and so joab.
Deploys. His men he meets his brother the
leader of the other force and he gave the gave him this
admonition in verse number 12, Well actually we back up to
verse number 11. He said if the syrians be too
strong for me than thou shalt help me but if the children of
Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee
and then he gives him this. Admonition be of good courage.
And let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our
God, and the Lord do that. Which seemeth him.
Good. See, we're in a battle today on
a lot of fronts and it's being fought in a lot of different
ways. We're facing spiritual battles,
were facing political battles were facing emotional battles, a
whole lot more, and there's a lot of That we are, that we are
facing this battle on, but one of the most important battles,
that we face is on the home front, in our homes, there's a
battle that's raging in every single home.
And I'm not saying there's all kinds of fighting going on or
you're pulling out the swords every night and duking it out.
But there's a battle that is facing us in our homes.
The devil wants to destroy your home, we're in a battle for the
spiritual survival of our families.
Do you realize that the devil wants to destroy your home?
It would be great if everything just went smoothly and all your
kids were born angels and they stayed that way for the rest of
their lives, right? Be great.
If you married the, the woman of your dreams and then you floated
on clouds and unicorns until the day that you die.
But it doesn't usually happen that way, right?
The truth is, the flesh comes along spurred on by the devil
and and he fights against everything that is good in our
homes, it's not a battle. You were looking out to fight
but the fight comes to your front door.
Now, most men, The battle to Satan for for a couple different
reasons. A number one, is that a lot of
times, they send their wives to fight the battle on the front
lines or number two, they just they just roll over and pull up
the White Flag. You know what?
It's a battle. I'm probably not going to win
anyway so you guys just go do what you want to do, and that's
the end of it. And we just we just turn our
families over to Satan and he is going to destroy them.
The Bible says that in First Peter, the devil as a roaring
lion walketh about seeking whom, he may push around a little bit
seeking whom he may, you know, cause the trip every now and
then. No.
The Bible says, the devil is seeking whom he may devour.
He wants to destroy your home, that's not how God designed us
to be as the leaders of our home.
Maybe you didn't ask for that position, maybe it was one of
those things where I didn't realize what I was getting into
when I got married and had kids, this is not my personality.
This is not my, this is not my type of thing, I don't do that
but you are the leader in your home and you have a
responsibility to fight. For what God gave you joab as
the leader of men turning to his brother and shared an admonition
with him that I think will be very helpful for us in our homes
to us as men and fathers today. So I want to take just a couple
minutes and I say that I mean it's going to be a shorter
message this morning but I want to take a few minutes this
morning and share with you three instructions that are given in
this admonition that will help us as we stand in the battle.
That's what I want to talk about today.
Ending in the battle. How can we stand up against what
the devil is trying to do in our country?
How can we stand up against what the devil is trying to do in our
homes? Joe have gives us a great
admonition. We're going to look at it this
morning but let's pray. Father, we love you, give me.
Thank you so much for how good you are to us.
Thank you for an opportunity to be here.
Thank you for each of the father's.
I thank you for each of the men that are here in this church.
I do pray that you would help us to be the leaders that you need
us. And want us to be so that we
might lead our families in a direction that is in a Godly
spiritual Direction and away from the things of the Devil is
trying to do in our homes that would destroy any chance of
seeing them go on to serve you with their lives.
And God, I pray that you give us something from you this morning.
Well, thank you for what you do in Jesus name.
Amen. I want you to keep your finger
there in second Samuel chapter 10, or maybe put a bookmark or
something, because we're going to come back to it a couple
different times. But you can turn over to Joshua
chapter number one, because the first thing that I think we're
given in this admonition is to take heart.
The first part of verse number 12 says Be Of good courage.
Be of good courage. Don't be discouraged by the
situation. Hey, does it seem sometimes?
Like all of your work is for nothing.
I know it does. Does it seems sometimes like we
sacrifice and pass on things that would be enjoyable for us,
enjoyable to the flesh so that we can give way to the Holy
Spirit and seems like we get nothing for it.
I know it feels that way. Sometimes, don't be discouraged
by the situation. Joshua said this in Joshua
chapter 1 and verse 9. Actually, the Lord is speaking.
The Joshua and telling him this have not, I commanded thee, be
strong and of a good courage. Be not Afraid.
Neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee.
Whithersoever thou goest. He's saying, hey take, Heart,
Take courage Gods with you in that battle that you're
fighting. You can turn over there if you
want to. But first Chronicles chapter 28,
David is getting ready to pass off of the scene and and as much
as he wanted to build the temple for God and for the for this,
holy place to be for God. God said, David, you're a man of
war, you've shed blood. You cannot be the one that
builds my temple but your son Solomon will be and so God David
as he's getting ready to pass off the torch so to speak from
from from himself and from everything that he was able to
accomplish for God to his son Solomon.
He says this in first Chronicles chapter 28 verse number 20 David
said to Solomon his son be strong and of a good courage and
do it fear not nor be dismayed for the Lord.
God, even my God will be with thee.
He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou has
finished. All the work for the service of
the house of the Lord. Hey, take heart!
God is with you. God wants to see you succeed in
that battle, God is for you. And I don't mean that in a in a
in a way of a Prosperity Gospel type.
You just, you just keep serving God and everything's going to be
fine though. There are going to be battles,
right? There are going to be struggles,
but God is for you in the fight, take heart.
Be of good courage. Don't don't don't shrink back.
Don't get discouraged in that battle.
There's a legend and obviously, it's just a legend that Satan
decided he was going to get rid of a few of his tools.
And so he arranged in an auction and there was all kinds of
things that he had in that auction.
He had envy and deceit and mouse, and sensuality, and
enmity, and thoughtlessness, and a lot of other tools that Satan
had used successful, and he had those priced very low.
But one piece that was Mark very high was labeled discouragement.
And one of the bidders said why do you want so much for this
tool? And that tool Satan told him has
been my most useful tool. He said you can you can see that
it has more aware than the rest used to.
It's used as a wedge to get into a man's mind when all of the
other tools fail and that tool was priced so high that nobody
was able to buy that tool of Destruction.
Courage, men, and so Satan continues to use that tool to
this day. Obviously, that's just a legend,
but dr. Jerry Falwell said, I've never
known God to use a discouraged person.
Hey, I tell I tell people all the time.
Hey, Pastor, don't get discouraged and I appreciate it.
But listen, I'm not discouraged disappointed sometimes but it's
hard to be discouraged. When, you know, who's on our
side it's hard to be discouraged when we're fighting the battle
when God, plus no one makes a majority, right?
And so if you join God's, Side, you are in the majority already.
What do we have to be discouraged?
About what do we have to be afraid of?
There is nothing to fear on this front.
God is for us, God is fighting for us, and he wants us to win
that battle. God has great plans for you and
your family. The Bible says in Jeremiah
29:11, for, I know the thoughts that I think toward, you says,
the Lord thoughts of peace, and not of evil.
To give you an expected end. He's got a path that he wants
every one of us to walk. The problem is he doesn't show
us the beginning and End of the path.
And so we start walking down that path and we can't see, but
a couple steps in front of us and we get scared.
And we get discouraging. So we turn around and we run.
And God says, hey that's this is the path that I have for you.
Keep walking down that path. You keep going on that in my
plans that I have for your life. He's got a plan for you.
He's got a plan for your children.
He has a plan for your family and he wants to use you.
He wants to use us. Don't let the devil discourage.
You don't look around the world and what's going on in and let
him distract you from this. Things, which is your primary
job of pointing your family to Jesus Christ.
Turn over to Psalm 27 boy, there's lots of Psalms that we
can look at. I just want to point out a
couple of them to you this morning.
They're all right. In the same place.
I think it'd be easy for you to turn to him but some 27.
And verse number 13 says this, I had fainted, unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the
living verse 14. So, I'm 27, wait on the Lord be
of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say on the Lord and that's one of the problems that
we have. And I'm not going to get off on
this this morning. But one of the problems is we
step outside of God's will because we're impatient.
Why is God not moving? We got to do something, we gotta
move. We gotta, we gotta go.
Do this like we jump on Out of God's will because we're trying
to do it in our own strength. Hey, God is for you be patient.
Wait on him, take courage, take heart.
He is working. You just got to let him do that
work. Hey, forward by faith.
That's our theme this year, right?
When we, when I set that as a theme, I didn't realize how much
he was really going to put that to the test, right?
We're trying to move forward as a church and it's by faith,
because it could come tomorrow that we get our 60 day notice.
And we got to find a place. And they, we might Be meeting in
the tent on my property. So, we're right, God gave us two
and a half acres. It's nice because we cleared it
all out, and it's a perfect spot for a tent in a bunch of cars.
And that might be where we're meeting for a couple months.
I don't know. I don't know what God has for
us, but we got to go forward by faith and I'm not worried about
it, you know, why? Because God is on our side, God
wants us to succeed, and I was just telling somebody this
yesterday, this is not my church.
This is not your church, it's his church.
What do I have to worry about God?
It's your problem. You're One that has to find a
place for you or church to me, not me.
This is in your hands, right? What do I have to worry about?
And the same is true when it comes to our families.
God wants your family to succeed spiritually.
God, want your kids to grow up and live for him?
What happened? So often is that we're trying to
direct them. We're trying to push them where
we want them to be, instead of saying God they're yours, you
take care of them, you do with them, what you want to do with
them, right? He says this in Psalm 31 just a
couple pages over may be on the same page for you but some 31 In
verse 23. Oh, love the Lord all.
Ye Saints for the Lord. Preserve is the faithful and
plentifully reward. It's a proud doer.
Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye
that hope in the Lord, I know things don't look good in our
world today and know things are not easy, but take heart be of
good courage. But the second thing and you can
turn back over to the second Samuel chapter 10.
The second part of verse 12, he says be of good courage but he
says and let us play them in for our people and for the cities of
our God. I think what he's saying here is
toil hard. Take, heart, but toil hard.
What I think he's saying here is do your best.
Don't give less than 100% of your effort.
You may not always feel like you have it all together.
You may not always feel like being the one to make the
decisions and leading your family.
You may not always feel like being the one To fight these
battles that are going to show up in your home and I'm not, and
I'm not saying in an argumentative way and everything
else the devil is going to fight in a lot of fronts, and you may
just, you know, it's just not, that's not my personality.
I'm not a fighter. I don't like confrontation, I
don't like controversy and I don't either, but, but you just
have to play the man, God, created men to work.
That's how that's who God designed us to be and how God
designed us to be. And I'm telling you what?
I'm so glad God made me a man. I couldn't be a woman.
I don't know how these people Cross over and become women.
I really don't because I would be a horrible woman.
I can tell you that much but I'm glad God made me a man, you
know? And and, and God gives us that
desire. What he made you to be who you
who he wanted you to be right? The Bible says, in Genesis male
and female created, he them, right?
He didn't create someone to be a half, male and half female, and
a male, who should have been a female and a female, who should
have been a male and all those other things, he created you,
who he wanted you to be. And I gotta go find my identity.
I gotta, I gotta do all this other kind of stuff.
You find your identity in Jesus Christ, and when you find him,
you know, exactly who he created you to be, you don't have to go,
try to be something else. You don't try to manufacture
something, you don't have to try to change something, God created
you who he wanted you to be. And if he created you a man, he
created you to be a leader. And if you don't like leading,
I'm sorry. He created you to be that way.
Play the man he says I don't know why he told abishai that
and maybe I wish. I was saying, I don't know if I
want to do this or not. He said, listen brother.
You got to just go play a man. You got to go be a man for your
P, be of good courage. And at least pretend to be a man
in front of these guys. Are you going to make them
scared to write? But toil hard.
He tells them first, we have to toil hard in prayer.
See a man that's not praying for his family as setting up his
family to fail. And I know prayers hard work.
That's why. So few people do it, even as a
pastor, I find it hard to pray. Sometimes, you know,
circumstances, come up made. Sometimes you don't feel like
praying when there's a lot of pressure, but it takes a lot of
time and effort and concentration, right?
I kneel down to pray and, and I don't know if it's the devil or
what, but all kinds of thoughts come into my head and oh, oh
man, it's something I need to do.
Oh I need to write that down so I don't forget that in all I got
to do this and all that and it takes work to concentrate on,
praying takes Work to concentrate on praying for your
family. I don't think there's anything
scarier to the devil than a man that's on his knees in prayer
before God, we sing that we sing the chorus, I'm a soldier
winning Battles, by fighting on my knees.
Do you believe that? And if you believe that then are
you doing it? We have to toil hard in prayer
but also we have to toil hard in example.
And I know that's probably not the most elegant eloquent way to
say that. But what I mean by that is you
have to work hard, to be an example to those in your house.
Turn over the First Kings, chapter 15, when you are the
leader. When you are, the example, you
don't get a day off taking a day off, makes you a hypocrite and
there's nothing hypocrisies. See, is the quickest way to send
your children, right down the road to the Devil's Playground.
You want to see your children off into the world and never
step foot in church. Again, be one thing at church.
And another thing at home, me one thing when you're around
people who expect you to act a certain way and be another thing
at home, that's that is the quickest way to send your
children right down the road to the Devils house.
Hypocrisy is an excuse that a lot of people use about.
I don't, I'm not going to church.
Those people are a bunch of Hypocrites.
Hey, there's Hypocrites everywhere and there are lots of
Hypocrites in the church, but that's not an excuse for you to
not be in church. It's not an excuse for you to
not be in God's house. It's not an excuse for you to
just give up on the things of God.
You don't be a hypocrite and pray that the guy next to you is
not going to be a hypocrite and pretty soon.
You have a whole church full of people who aren't Hypocrites and
who really are trying to serve God.
But your kids see you you are the example whether you want to
be an example or not. And they are watching you and
they see how you are a church, and they see how you are at
home. They hear the things that you
say you should be doing and the way that you should be living
and then they see the things that you watch.
They hear the things that you listen to You are an example,
whether you want to be an example or not?
Are you a good example or are you a bad example?
And it takes a lot of work to be a good example, but we have to
work hard at it. I want to show you one verse of
a great passage here in First Kings, chapter 15 verse 11.
And I just, I don't have time to set the whole thing up, but you
can understand exactly what we're seeing here.
The Bible says, in First Kings chapter 15 and verse 11 and they
said did that, which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did
David. His father, let me ask you a
question and I want you to chew on for a little while.
What it be a blessing. Or a curse.
To have your son grow up in be exactly like you.
But it'd be a blessing or a curse to have your son grow up
and be exactly like you David could say well I want my son to
be like me I made some mistakes. Wish I did but I want my son to
grow up and be like me and look what God says in verse 11 ASA.
Did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord adds did David
his father. The story told of a father who
spent time every day at the tavern and he always wanted his
son never to drink. Don't ever drink son and he'd
walk out. Go to the tavern almost every
single day and one snowy afternoon as he walked out, the
front door and started to make his way toward that Tavern, he
noticed that his son was walking in those footsteps that he was
making in the snow. And that man said, you know
what, something hit me, right? Then he turned around, he went
back. And he picked up his son and he
hugged him and he never set foot in that Tavern again.
Whether you like it or not, whether you want to be or not,
you are an example and you have to work hard to make sure you
are a good one. Young people are watching you.
The admonition back in second, Samuel chapter 10 was to take
heart, to toil hard. And lastly, trust him trust God.
the last part of verse number 12 says and the Lord do that which
seemeth him good, you know, a job was saying We can take
courage, we can be of good courage.
We can play the man for our people, but at the end of the
day, it's all in God's hands. At the end of the day, just
trust him to do. What's best?
That's leaving the results to him.
We can do our best, not to get discouraged, we can do our best
to play the men and work hard, but we just have to trust God
that he'll bring the results. Martin Luther spent three days.
One on one time when he was going through a just a dark dark
time in his life black depression over something that
it had gone wrong. And on the third day, his wife
came downstairs. She and she was dressed in
mourning clothes. She was dressed in all black,
she had her face covered. She had a little veil over her
face and And Luther hadn't even heard that anybody died.
So he asked her, she said he asked her.
That question, who died? Who's dead?
She said, God. Martin Luther obviously was
taking a back. He said, what do you mean God's
dead? God can't die.
She looked at her husband and she said, well the way you've
been acting I was sure he had. You know, sometimes we just need
to trust God and stop acting like God's Dead, God's not dead,
right? God, still working in your life
if you allow him to do it, God still on your side.
If you join his side, right? God still wants you to succeed.
There's a lot of times when it just doesn't seem like doing it.
God's way is working. Turn over to Psalm 68.
I think often it seems like the world and the Flesh and the
devil are so powerful that there's no way that we can win.
but psalm 16 verse 12 says this, Through God, we shall do
valiantly for. He it is that shall tread down
our enemies and I'm telling you is the same thing that I said
just a few minutes ago is that we try to do this in our own
strength and we get discouraged, we try to do it on our own
power. We try to finagle things to make
them work out the way that we want them to work out.
When what God is saying is just turn it over to me.
I told this to the young people when I was, when we were at camp
this past week, or at the Family Camp, and I had an opportunity
to do a devotion for, for the, for one of the Tonight directed
specifically to a lot of the young people that were in there
and I gave them some of my testimony and essentially what I
had done with my life, but hey, I wonder did you God's will?
I wanted God to be pleased with my life, but I had all my plans
laid out and I was giving God, a piece of paper.
And I said, God sign this at the bottom so that I can tell
everybody. This is your will for my life.
This is what I want to do. This is where I want to go.
This is who I want to marry. This is what I want to
accomplish sign it so that I can tell everybody this is what you
want me. To do with my life.
And God threw a wrench in my plans and changed everything.
And essentially what I came to the conclusion was that God was
not looking for me to give him a piece of paper with everything
that I wanted to do. So he could sign it.
He wanted a blank piece of paper with my signature at the bottom
so he could fill in all the details for my life.
He just wants to have control. He just wants us to turn
everything over to him and I'm telling you this God has written
a story of my life that I never would have imagined that I could
write. I never would have written it
the way that he has. I'm so glad that he took the
pen. I'm glad I gave him the pain to
my life and let him write the story because there's so many
things that would never be what they are today.
I would never be as happy as I am today.
Had a God not gotten the pain of my life, but so many of us as
God is trying to pull that pain and say, hey, I want to write a,
I want to write a story that that you don't even comprehend
right now. We said, no, it's my pain.
Give me that and God's trying to pull it away from us.
And he says, all right fine. Go write your own story story
that I could write for you is way better than you can even
imagine. And so we write our little drab
details about how our life should go.
And all this is so wonderful, not knowing that God had
something that was 10 times beyond what we could even ask or
think. I just want you to turn it over
to him. Oh my family is I got this
struggles with this kid and I got the show goes with that kid,
and I just don't know what to do.
I'm pulling my hair out and give it to God.
Turn it over to him, stop trying to do it in your own strength.
Stop trying to be the manipulator.
Stop trying to write the story. Let God do it through God, we
shall do valiantly. He says, for he, it is that
shall tread down our enemies over in.
First John, chapter 4 and verse. Number 4, he says you are of God
little children have have have overcome them because greater is
he that is in you than he that is in the world.
I want you to look at one last passage in John chapter 16.
Trust him. Let God handle it.
Because I'll tell you this. He's a whole lot better at being
God than we are. Todd's a whole lot better at
being God than I am. We try to play God a lot, don't
we are? We've never say I'm more
powerful than God. I can handle, God, should have
done this. We would never say that a lot,
but sometimes in our mind, all, man, if only God had Right.
He's a whole lot better at being God than we are, but the Bible
says this in John, 16:33 these things I have spoken unto you
that in me, ye might have peace the world ye shall have
tribulation, that's not May, or might it shall?
That's a guarantee. You're going to face difficult
times in the world. Ye shall have tribulation, but
Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world.
So he's our father. If you're saved and you can rest
assured of the fact that he wants the best for us.
He wants the best for his children, he wants to use us if
we let him. I heard a story about a group of
botanist that notice through a pair of binoculars are very rare
and beautiful flower. That was laying deep in the
Ravine and this young boy was watching nearby in the scientist
told them that they'd pay him very well for a young boy if he
had agreed to be lowered over the edge of that, Cliff to
retrieve that flower. The young boy, I thought about
it for a minute, he said, hang on, I'll be right back.
A short time later. He turned he was followed by a
gray-haired man and he went up to those botanist in the boy
said to the botanist. He said I'll go over that cliff
and get that flower. If this man holds the Rope, he's
my dad. And you know, honestly, that's
just what we need to do with. God is our heavenly father.
Well, I don't know if God can hold the Rope or not.
I just don't know if I can trust him.
Right? We would never say that out
loud, but we say that with our actions a whole lot.
Well, I'll just doesn't understand the situation that
I'm in with my family. He just doesn't know it sounds.
So foolish to say it out loud, but we live that way.
So often. Right often we find ourselves in
a battle that we never desired. Perhaps we're facing an enemy on
more than one front simultaneously.
David found that when he sent joab and abishai out.
To fight against the ammonites and syrians.
George gave some great admonition.
Hey, I'm shy take heart. Be of good courage.
They have a shy God put us in the position of leaders.
I know you didn't ask for it and I didn't ask for it.
But this is where we find ourselves.
Let's go out and play the man. Let's toil hard.
Let's give it everything we got. But at the end of the day, we
have to trust him. We just have to trust him and
all will be well, you read the rest of that story.
I don't have time to do that. In second Samuel chapter 10,
this morning which you read through the rest of that story.
Enjoy the knavish. I did very well and it came down
to the point where the ammonites and the syrians became the
slaves of the Israelites for a long time.
After that, hey, they did their best but they left the rest of
God. And there's a there's a there's
a delicate balance between faith and works and I find myself in
that position a lot. God expects us to work, but he
also expects us to have faith and where is that balance?
How much do you work? And how much of it is Faith?
But we're looking, we're looking for a building right now.
How much do we get out there and pound the streets?
And go out there and try to find a place for us.
Is just stepping back and saying, God is in your hands at
your church. We need a building, right?
I think he expects us to do both.
Right? Hey Faith and works.
Go hand in hand, right? We trust God but then we have to
go out and do the work we work. But we trust God.
They go hand-in-hand and the more we trust God the more we'll
know exactly the amount of work that we should put into it.
The more we work, the more work we put into it, the more I think
God says, hey, they're serious about this thing.
Let me help him on the back side, right?
Faith and works. They go hand in hand.
But God expects us as Christians and especially as men who are
leading homes and his men who are in a church that's trying to
make a difference in this community, we just have to trust
God. We got to take courage, got a
toil hard and we just got to trust it.
And you know what, got to work, all things out for us.
God wants you to succeed in your family.
He's not fighting against you. We're fighting against him.
All right. If God had his way every kid
would grow up and be the greatest Christian, every kid
would grow up and do what his will is for their life.
Every kid would grow up and serve him.
We just need to get out of her own way.
Like I do that work. Let's pray.
Father, we love you. Give me.
Thank you so much for your goodness to us.
Thank you so much for an opportunity to preach your word
this morning and to hear your word this morning.
I do, pray that if there is somebody in here, that's
discouraged this morning because they're not seeing things go the
way that they planned or hoped. That you'd encourage them that
they'd be able to take heart, knowing the fact that you want
them to succeed, you want them to win the battle, you want them
to win the fight. but it should help us to do our part and work
hard but got at the end of the day I pray that you'd help us to
turn it all over to you and we just trust you trust the word of
God, trust the plan of God, For our lives.
And so we have children. I pray that that we would not
lose one child to the world here this morning and I pray that
every single child and every single family in this church
would grow up and do your will for their lives.
I pray that they'd find the ones that you want them to marry.
I pray that they would know exactly what it is that you want
them to do and they do it. That's what you want.
That's your heart. Now, I pray that you would help
us as men and fathers to lead our families in a Direction
that's pleasing to you. And where things need to change.
I pray that you give us the courage in the boldness to
change it. Well, thank you for what you do
in Jesus name. Amen.